


Friends Like These

by quietrook



Category: Eerie Crests, Eerite Crests (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M, thanks to someone on tumblr this is gonna end differently than i originally imagined it would
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-06 06:02:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10327355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietrook/pseuds/quietrook





	1. Practice Makes Perfect

“Look at him go,” Tyler said appreciatively, watching Jonas Parker at bat for once. Normally it was Blake, Ty’s best friend, but the coach had decided to give Parker a chance off of the bench. Parker, after his last experience batting when Phoebus was absent, was toning it down a little, not hitting as hard as he could, but making it to at least second base each time he swung and hit.

“Anyone could hit Margo’s lousy pitches,” Blake scoffed, crossing his arms. He scowled at the field; Parker was doing good, and he knew it. He hated it; he couldn't stand the idea that someone could be as good as, or better than, he was.

“Jealous?” Ty teased, elbowing him in the side.

Blake just made a “tch” sound and pulled his hat down low over his eyes, sinking on the bench. “In your dreams, Beaumont.” Still, though, he watched Parker with envy as the team cheered him on, as  _ Ty _ cheered him on, and Parker smiled, embarrassed. 

After practice was over, Blake grabbed his stuff without waiting for Tyler and started to walk.

“Hey,” Tyler called after him, but Blake ignored him. 

He heard the sound of running feet hit the ground and before long Ty was slowing to a stop beside him.

“Dude, Baz, what was that about?” He asked with a frown. “We always walk home together.”

_ Why don't you walk home with your new best friend,  _ Blake thought savagely, but said, “Sorry. Just got some things on my mind.”

Tyler clapped an arm around his best friend’s shoulders. “You know you can always talk to me, yeah?”

Blake nodded, and shoved Ty’s arm off him with a forced playfulness.

“I know, man. Thanks.”


	2. First Name Basis

Blake Basinger didn't have anything particularly against Parker. He was quiet enough, kept to himself a lot, pretty nice. There wasn't any reason to dislike him. And yet, Blake managed to spectacularly.

Walking with Ty after one of their classes together, they passed Parker in the hallway. He was at his locker.

“Hey, nice batting the other day, Jonas,” Ty told him with a grin. Parker grinned and Blake turned to his best friend.

“Who the fuck is Jonas?”

“Jonas Parker,” Ty said slowly. “Don't tell me you didn't know his first name. Next you'll tell me you don't know Dallas, either.”

“Who?” Blake said stubbornly, and his best friend sighed.

“You're hopeless.”

“Alright, alright, I'm kidding,” Blake told him. “About Margolin anyway. But since when are you and _Jonas_ on first name basis?”

Tyler shrugged. “I hung out with him that one day you were absent, y’know? He's a pretty cool dude. He just gets talked over a lot.”

“Maybe I'd know his name if he ever opened his mouth,” he muttered, but Ty wasn't listening. He was looking back at Parker with a smile.

Blake grit his teeth and walked ahead. He felt himself splitting on Ty even as it was happening, and he hated himself immediately for it. Tyler was allowed to have other friends; _except he isn't_ , Blake’s brain insisted. _If you aren't the only one then he doesn't care about you. You better leave him before he can leave first._

Blake grabbed his arm tightly, digging his nails into his skin.

“Yo, Blake!”

At the sound of Tyler's voice, he let go of his arm and turned around with a blank face. He couldn't let his thoughts show. He just couldn't.

  
“We're gonna be late, let's go,” was all he said in response to Ty’s unasked questions.


	3. Sunlight

They were in Blake's room, supposedly working on homework. That meant Blake was dicking around on his phone and Tyler was lying on his back, tossing a baseball in the air and catching it. Blake was somewhere in the middle of a page of those student athlete grind memes when his friend spoke.

“Hey, Baz?”

“Yeah?” Blake responded without looking up.

“D’you ever like… not know somethin’ about yourself until the first time it happens  and then you're really confused?”

Blake turned on his side, looking at the blonde with  only a little annoyance.

“Be _more_ vague.”

“Well…”  Tyler turned onto his stomach and rested his head on his arms. Light filtered through the windows of Blake's room, making highlights in Ty’s hair as he spoke.  

“Say you like someone that you didn't know you could like.”

Blake immediately tensed,but kept his voice calm.  

“Like in a friend way?”

“No, more like… in a hold-hands, maybe kiss kinda way.” Tyler looked at him nervously. “Y’know?”

“Dude, I am the king of liking people you shouldn’t like,” Blake scoffed, pulling himself into a sitting position. “So who’sit?”  
Tyler bit his lip and looked down at the ground.

“Don’t be mad, okay?”

That made Blake feel two things. The first, a realization that whoever it was, it was _serious._ The second, anger at himself for letting Tyler know that he had any problems at all. He had to do better than that. _He’ll leave._ The whisper curled around his brain and sat there, heavy, but he ignored it.

“I won’t be mad,” he promised, hoping that Tyler didn’t know Blake could never promise something like that. He sucked in a breath of air and let it out slowly, through his nose. He started trying to remember DBT skills, but it’s a lot harder when all your knowledge comes from late night internet research instead of from groups and worksheets.

Tyler closed his eyes and was silent for a moment. Blake looked at him, and felt warmth, warmth beyond the sunlight coming into the room. It settled in the base of his stomach and made him feel uncomfortable. When Ty opened his eyes, Blake looked away.

“You know I’m not straight,” he began, and Blake nodded wordlessly. Neither of them were. He knew that already. “But I’ve never really had strong feelings for a guy before. Not anything beyond, _dude he’s hot_ , you know?”

“So you have feelings for a guy.” Blake hoped that hadn’t come out as flat as it had sounded in his head. His stomach felt weird. Squishy all of a sudden. There was still a chance, though, that he misunderstood, that it wasn’t --

“Yeah.”

Blake swallowed. The feeling in his stomach had become full on nausea, like he’d been on a carnival ride, spinning circles through the air. The warmth he had felt earlier was completely gone, now. He needed to get up, needed to breathe, he wasn’t breathing, why wasn’t he breathing? His hands clenched and unclenched on their own.

He blinked through the panic and forced his voice to be calm, steady.

“So who’s the lucky guy?”

And why did he want it to be him, all of a sudden? He had never had feelings for Ty before. Why did he suddenly look at Ty and see someone who he wanted to kiss, wanted to go out with?

With a start, Blake realized it wasn’t sudden. He had felt that way for a while. That only made his sick feeling worse.

He realized Ty had said something when he looked back; the blonde had a concerned expression. He had heard, but hadn’t put the sound together in his head yet. It took a moment, but he watched the memory of Ty’s lips moving, heard the sound in his head, and figured it out. Parker. The guy Tyler liked was Parker.

“You okay, Blake?”

“Fine,” he forced out, and slowly stood. His legs shook; he willed them to stop. He willed everything to stop. _This can’t be happening._

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Just-- give me a sec. Gotta… piss.” He left his room without another word and ran to the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

Blake leaned against the door and slid into a sitting position, staring ahead at the duck patterned shower curtain in front of him.

_“What the fuck?”_


End file.
